It’s almost time for Taste of Amsterdam. THE culinary festival where a selection of the best restaurants of our capital present their signature dishes. And we’ve got a nice preview of these already…
We had a so called ‘running dinner’ (no we did not run but we were driven around by Ubers), which means we made a tour of three participating different restaurants: Le Garage, Blauw and Het Bosch. Each restaurant served a course to gives us an idea of what their chefs are capable of.
The sun decided to show up that evening so we started with an appetizer with terrine de foie gras and asparagus, and a glass of wine (a rosé from Bandol and Queen Maximà’s favorite!) outside at Le Garage before we got settled at the table for the starter. The salmon sahimi on a puree of green peas, wasabi and mint covered with a papadum was inspired by a dish from Nobu NY and fingerlicking good. It was served with a Beaujolais as the season for this supple and fresh French red wine variety is in full swing.
Next stop was Blauw, an Indonesian restaurant on the Amstelveenseweg -where you’ll find an array of restaurants- but this is one you should keep in mind! Chef Agus transforms Indonesian food in a culinary experience and he makes the best satay Kambing in town!
‘Kambing’ is Indonesian for ‘goat’, and as many foodies know, goat meat isn’t easy to prepare as it can turn out dry and chewy. We got to taste his famous satay, but also fillet of cod with spicy coconut curry and marinated pork belly with star anise and 5 spices, in a spicy sauce. We couldn’t tell you which was our favorite, all dishes were excellent!
The tour was concluded at Het Bosch in the small yacht harbour between Amsterdam and Amstelveen, where the owner Ferry and chef de cuisine Willem-Pieter spoiled us with a strawberry dessert consisting of a mousse, sabayon and a garnish of three strawberry varieties, including the white ‘pineapple’ strawberry. We liked it so much that we asked for a second portion instead of another glass of G&T. Not that the G&T wasn’t good (they have their own home stoked Gin) but we have a thing for good desserts.
Want to taste all these fab dishes too? Then visit Taste of Amsterdam this week from June 4th to June 7th. You won’t regret it!